Certain diagnostic and therapeutic procedures for treatment and removal of disc material require access to and/or formation of a cavity in an interior body region, including the intervertebral disc. The intervertebral disc includes a thick outer ring of elastic soft tissue material (annulus fibrosus) and an inner gel-like substance (nucleus pulposus). Healthy disc material helps maintain flexibility of the spine and acts as a shock absorber dissipating loads across the spine. When the condition of the disc material deteriorates as a result of, for example, degenerative disc disease, herniation, and/or injury, the patient may suffer deformation of the normal alignment or curvature of the affected area of the spine, as well as chronic complications and an overall adverse impact upon the quality of life.
Until recently, doctors were limited to treating such deterioration and related deformities with pain medications, bed rest, bracing or invasive spinal surgery. Surgical removal of the offending disc material can be completed (e.g., discectomy) to provide a treatment element to the disc space (e.g., bone graft, filler material, etc.) and/or fusion of adjacent vertebral bodies using metal screws/rods. Standard surgical instruments for removing and/or creating a cavity in the intervertebral disc include chisels, disc cutters, rasps, pituitary rongeurs, scrapers, curettes, cobb elevators, sizers, broaches or the like. The surgical procedure for accessing the disc may depend upon patient anatomy and/or disc/vertebral condition.
A common drawback of most systems for removing disc material is that they require significant dissection and muscle retraction to accommodate the multitude tools needed for creating the cavity, leading to longer recovery time for the patient. Accordingly, there remains a need in the art to provide a safe and effective apparatus and method for minimally invasive disc tissue detachment and removal.